Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:ACEL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript - Page 3 of 3 - InvestingChannel

Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:ACEL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Greg Gibas: Okay, great. Regarding M&A, the goal to kind of diversify outside of Illinois more, what I – you mentioned looking at multiple markets. What would kind of be your – the primary or maybe the top markets that you’re looking at in terms of M&A transactions?

Andrew Rubenstein: We’re looking across the board on these opportunities and I think there’s a lot of promise in markets outside of Illinois. And we’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring these markets. Fortunately, the Century Grand Vision part of our business has allowed us to investigate and understand how gaming works in many other markets. And from that – from those learnings, I think when a new market like Nebraska opens up where we’ve been successful, it’s because of the experience that we – that the Century and Grand vision teams have in developing products for new markets, understanding the needs of the market and we lever that very quickly to work with companies who are in the market and neither do a partnership or on acquisition to establish ourselves. And as Nebraska is – has moved along and grown and started to trend toward positive EBITDA, you’ll see the benefit of that experience.

Greg Gibas: Sure. Okay, makes sense. I guess, just lastly, I did want to follow up on North Carolina. Something that we should be tracking more closely. I know you kind of provided a high level, but can you just remind me where it stands today in terms of legislation. And I thought you said when we’d expect to get an update. But when would we maybe hear an update on the next step of that legislation and then North Carolina market?

Andrew Rubenstein: So from our understanding, the legislation related to gaming will be – is currently in the budgeting process. So they are looking to close gaps in tax revenue that they’re reducing and whether it’s a corporate tax or personal tax or some other tax revenue and replace it with something like video gaming revenue or video gaming tax. It’s still in the budgeting process. The budget has not been approved and the deadline originally was the end of June. It’s been extended obviously and they’re working through this. We expect to get more information and color around where this legislation is and what it is, because it’s been held fairly secretively. It’s not like what you experienced in Illinois where the legislation gets written, it gets circulated, it’s a different process.

But we’re optimistic that they see the value of bringing legalized regulated gaming to replace the current industry there and be able to provide the gap that they need to close in order to reduce other taxes.

Greg Gibas: Perfect. Makes sense. We’ll keep an eye on that one going forward. Thanks for addressing the questions. Andy.

Andrew Rubenstein: Thank you for calling in.

Operator: Thank you for your question. There are currently no further questions registered. [Operator Instructions] There are no additional questions waiting at this time, so I’ll pass the call back to Andy Rubenstein for any closing remarks.

Andrew Rubenstein: Thank you everyone for joining us today. Like we said earlier, we had a very good second quarter. The summer hasn’t changed too much from traditional trends and we look forward to continue to performing at a high level. And as we remarked earlier, the opportunities are there for real growth. And I hope to demonstrate in the next couple of quarters, how we continue to lead in route gaming, not just in Illinois, but throughout the U.S. route markets. So thank you again. Have a great summer and we’ll talk to you in the fall.

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